It's that time of the year again

It's that time of the year again. In the past few weeks we've had a player getting banned from the IPL, while protesting his innocence (Ravindra Jadeja), we've had Lalit Modi being cut to size by Shashank Manohar in the matter of adding new franchises, we've had Lalit Modi get into yet another slanging match with the media on broadcast rights, and before that at the IPL auctions, the Pakistan playing fraternity being up in arms against India in general and Lalit Modi in particular over the non-inclusion of their players in any of the franchises.

Four controversies, three of them involving Modi. In other words, the surest sign that the IPL is around the corner.

It has returned to India after spending a year abroad, but unlike brash young children who come back wordly-wise and mature, the IPL - still in a state of infancy - promises to be brasher still.

Beyond all the hoopla, the length of the cheerleaders' skirts or the cut of their cleavages, the after-match parties that will reportedly be telecast on TV, and the inevitable sight of Lalit Modi being telecast twice per innings in every match, the IPL is still about cricket.

And everyone connected with it - fans, followers, administrators, players - would do well to remember that. There is not much chance of the players putting cricket on the second or third rungs of their focus, or at least, if a cricketer does do that, there is a good chance he will not be allowed to do it for any length of time. Cast your eye over the eight captains who are leading the teams this year: MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Gautam Gambhir, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist, Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne.

Not a single one of those individuals have ever put winning as a lesser priority than anything else, and any player playing under them can expect to be shown the boot quickly if he does not put in his full effort for the matches.

Of the eight though, only one will be smiling on the 25th of April.

Over the past two years, the winner has always been the most unlikely team. In 2008, Rajasthan were the clear underdogs, and were expected to be everybody's whipping boys and in 2009 the Deccan Chargers were coming in after the most abysmal performance in 2008. If I was a cynic and thought these victories were scripted to ensure that the underdog always won, then it would be easy to pin-point the winners for 2010, which would of course be none other than the Kolkata Knight Riders!

However, shedding aside the cynic hat for the time being, the teams this time look more evenly balanced than last time around. I had attempted a similar exercise last year [Link] and ended up with a rather goodish amount of egg on my face. However, once bitten twice shy is not a message that has sunk in yet. So here goes with another set of predictions of how things look likely to pan out in IPL 2010.

The teams that look the strongest this year are Delhi and Bangalore. Delhi have a top-order sent from T20 heaven, and a very good bowling attack too. Bangalore have unearthed a crop of youngsters who promise to do this year what the Indian contingent in the Bangalore side couldn't do at all in 2008 and not much in 2009 - contribute meaningfully.

On paper, Delhi look like the strongest side, followed by Bangalore, and it would be vastly surprising if both of these teams don't make the semi-finals.

Last year's champions, the Deccan Chargers also look a good bet for the semis, with an explosive batting line-up and a steady bowling attack. If all goes to form, Delhi, Bangalore and Deccan should form three of the four semi-finalists, but the tussle for the last spot ought to be very interesting.

Last year's favourite punching bag - Kolkata - have done one or two things right for starters: they have got rid of John 'multiple-captain-even more bs' Buchanan; they have acquired a let go of Ricky Ponting - who would not have been available for most of the tournament - in favour of a genuine strike bowler - Shane Bond - who will be available, and the Mashrafe Mortaza experiment will thankfully not be tried again since the bowler is injured. They will hopefully also use Charl Langeveldt much better this time after wasting one of the finest Twenty20 bowlers in 2009.

Rajasthan were also weak last time around, but have added the fiery Shaun Tait alongwith a couple of other Aussies in Damien Martyn and Adam Voges. They still look like underdogs, but with 2008 not being too far back in the past, the underdog tag will not mean too much to them.

The other team that ended up in the bottom charts were the Mumbai Indians. They had befuddled everybody by their choice of name in 2008, and they befuddled everybody by not reaching the semi-finals in 2009, despite having a very strong side on paper. With some very promising all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ryan McLaren and Graham Napier, Mumbai must take the strong call and put Sanath Jayasuriya on the bench for much of 2010. He is no longer an automatic selection and with just four foreign spots available, it doesn't make cricketing sense to bench a McLaren in favour of Jayasuriya.

Punjab have injury problems galore, with two of their biggest match-winners - Yuvraj and Brett Lee - being doubtful. In Lee's absence the bowling looks thin, with Sreesanth never at his best in shorter formats, and Irfan Pathan fairly ordinary on Indian tracks. Punjab will have to bank on their Indian talent to do very well if they have to mount a strong challenge.

Chennai were spoken of in the same breath as Delhi before IPL-2009, but have lost their steam somewhat. Their veteran picks - Makhaya Ntini and Muttiah Muralitharan - are both on their last international legs, and have suffered big drops in form, leaving the bowling a bit thin. However, amongst the rest of the pack, Chennai appear to be the front-runners and if Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina display the form they had last year, then the semi-final lineup should read: Delhi, Bangalore, Deccan and Chennai.

Of course in Twenty20 cricket, there are too many slips between cup and lip to keep track of, so no one should be surprised if the semi-finalists eventually turn out to be Rajasthan, Punjab, Kolkata and Mumbai!